There has been much speculation that Baidu is one of the more likely China partners for Facebook (China Mobile is another one). Baidu is already way behind in social media in China and so may really want a Facebook deal. I have a beta account for Baidu Talk 百度说吧, Baidu’s version of Weibo (though Baidu calls it a real-name social networking platform, not a microblog). It is still in invitation-only beta and appears to be falling further behind Sina Weibo as each day passes. In some ways Baidu is a bit like Google in that they have proven to be weak at anything social.

What might a Baidu-Facebook partnership look like? I have no insider knowledge, but that won’t stop me from speculating. It would probably take the form of a joint venture for China to launch a China-specific, sanitized version of Facebook that would have limited if any linkages and data sharing with the global, ex-China Facebook.

Facebook wants to get to a billion users, and a China deal would accelerate their achievement of that goal. But after the uprisings in the Middle East the government may not approve a Baidu-Facebook deal (see my post on Sinocism-Will Unrest In Egypt Strengthen The Chinese Government?), and if it did it would likely require all sorts of “compromises” from Facebook.

Even a PR executive as talented as Elliot Schrage might have a hard time handling the likely uproar in the West around a Facebook China deal and all it would entail.